Wexford council still ‘working’ to find tenants for Technology Park three years on from its opening

By Simon Bourke, Wexford People

Almost three years on from the opening of eight fully-furnished offices, a conference/events space, and a boardroom with panoramic views over the River Slaney, Wexford County Council (WCC) has yet to utilise its ‘Green Hub’ at the Enniscorthy Technology Park in Senan House.

While offices in the building have been used by Ed Murphy’s GreenTech HQ since opening, the council-owned space remains empty.

As of May 2025, WCC had spent €614,097 on renting office space at the Technology Park and a further €1.5m in fitting out the rooms.

At the monthly meeting of WCC, Councillor Paddy Kavanagh asked for an update on the council’s plans for the offices.

“It’s three years open now and there’s no tenant in there,” he noted, “how much have we spent on that and is there anyone due to go into those buildings?”

Director of planning Liz Hore provided an update, informing the councillor that plans to find tenants were progressing.

“In one of the sites there we’ve partnered with the IDA for an advance factory, and in Senan House I’ve been working with two clients to go in there,” she said. “In terms of our own space we went out for procurement and got a costing on it, and it just didn’t represent value for money, so we had to rule that out. But we have appointed architects, they have done a site visit and they are looking at the second phase fit out for the building.”

Chief Executive of Wexford County Council, Eddie Taaffe.

While GreenTech has been operational in Enniscorthy since 2022, chief executive of Wexford County Council Eddie Taaffe, speaking to the Wexford People in 2025, said it was always the local authority’s plan to establish its own green hub at Senan House.

“Our investment in a green hub there has been on the cards for a long time,” Mr Taaffe said. “We did have some procurement challenges, but we’re nearly there now.

“I see this green hub as being complimentary to what's already there (GreenTech) in what is a growth area. Together, we can make a stronger offer to firms to come and operate out of this building and hopefully we’ll be able to attract similar, like-minded companies.”

The council's plan for the space is mapped out via the High Performance Building Alliance (HBPA), where they intend to install a ‘Green Hub’, something that they’ve already spent well in excess of €1.5 million fitting out.

The function of this hub is somewhat shrouded in company speak and buzz words in its brochure.

“Designed with sustainability at its core, the Green Hub embodies a circular economy approach throughout its fit-out and represents the HPBA mission to drive innovation and address climate change by optimising the sustainability of the built environment, making it a hub for forward-thinking ideas and solutions,” it states.

The pitch continues that the hub “provides businesses with access to sustainable resources and a collaborative environment to help them meet these evolving demands effectively”, which is, it continues – “affordable, flexible office solutions, designed with sustainability in mind, alongside a community of like-minded businesses to foster innovation and collaboration”.

Essentially, the council-funded Green Hub offers eight fully furnished offices available to rent at between €1,500 and €3,000 per month; 13 hot desks available at €200 per month; a conference/events space that can hold up to 50 people, which is available at €50 per hour; a podcast studio available for €75 per hour and a boardroom with panoramic views over Enniscorthy available for hire at €250 per day.

While on the face of things these seem like desirable facilities, the criticism and grumblings behind the scenes arises from the fact that after nearly two years of paying thousands in rent on a vacant office space in Senan House, Wexford County Council's idea was to install almost identical facilities to those located just across the hall by the private, not-for-profit company GreenTech.

GreenTech is also a “sustainability and innovation hub” which offers hot desks at €200 per month, dedicated desks at €300 per month, a conference/events space that can hold up to 60 people and is available for €150 for two hours up to €600 for eight hours and dedicated office space for one or two people from €500 per month.